The system requirements are actually for the agent software. The firmware embedding is a persistence module that "self-heals" the agent software. The references to it surviving through reformatting and hard-drive replacement is the fact that the BIOS will re-install the agent on the new OS / Hard Drive. Black Hat 2009 had some research presented on the shortcomings of this technique, which is summarized on coresecurity: http://blog.coresecurity.com/2009/08/11/the-bios-embedded-anti-theft-persistant-agent-that-couldnt-response-handling-the-ostrich-defense/

That being said, preventing the agent from calling in when you know it should be calling in would be cause enough for an employer to be suspicious.

Well, to be fair in this specific case, Absolute doesn't collect more than basic hardware and state information until you report it as stolen. And, yes, there are limitations to the BIOS implementation. It's really just a persistence module to reinstall the agent software on Windows and Mac OS. However, the inability for it to properly function and call in can be cause for alarm on the part of the employer.

Actually, it is not that rare. A company called Absolute is a pretty big player in the firmware level asset security control and recovery business. Every major vendor has models that embed their agent into the firmware of select machines. These agents persist through imaging/formatting. They allow tracking of IP address, geolocation on models with GPS, keylogging, remote bios lockdown, remote wiping, and more. You can see a list of models on their website at: http://www.absolute.com/partners/bios-compatibility

In short, I agree with the above posters. Play it safe and talk to your IT department. Ask them if you should buy your own laptop for non-work use or use a live cd.